The Clinton Police station is expanding, with a need for additional storage to house case evidence to be accommodated as part of a $300,000 project slated for the near future.
A bid for the work was unanimously approved at the City Council’s regular meeting Tuesday.
“We had a bid opening on Oct. 20 and we received really good bids,” said finance officer Kristin Stafford, who recommended that low bidder Vortex Construction Co. LLC. received the contract with a base bid of $198,965.
“This is right on budget,” she noted.
City manager Shawn Purvis said the overall budget is anticipated to be around $300,000 after construction, fees and equipment costs. The project should begin “soon,” he said, floating a target completion date of May or June for the six-month project, allowing for any delays during the winter months.
“The project is the initial phase of what we hope will eventually include another addition and remodel to the police station,” Purvis stated following the meeting. “One of our challenges has been evidence storage as we are required to retain more and more. We want to ensure proper evidence storage procedures and space in accordance with (the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies) and legal best practices.”
The space issue at the Clinton Police Department has been oft-discussed in recent years and was again broached during a special work session of the City Council last month. City officials previously said that a full renovation of the police station would hover around $2 million, a large number they said should also be looked at for a phase implementation.
The police station, city officials have said, is inadequate when it comes to the functions that they have to have, noting that an evidence room and additional storage was a specific need. The addition will add about 1,000 square feet of storage space with up-to-date storage and processing equipment.
Clinton Police Chief Jay Tilley said it is a much-needed project for a “critical function” of law enforcement operations.
“Evidence storage is a critical function of police work. The law enforcement accreditation’s best practices that we adhere to require us have strict guidelines for evidence handling, which includes our storage facilities,” Tilley stated. “This upgrade will provide better security and additional storage space for over 4,000 pieces of evidence and citizen’s property we house here at the police department.”
According to Purvis, the long-term plan for the addition will be to convert it to a dual sally port for vehicle investigation and storage.
“This would happen upon a remodel that would more than double evidence storage space,” the city manager said.